Saturday, October 17, 2009

Pro So Cal

I am very Pro-Southern California living. I think that you have so much access to a variety of areas and people that you can’t beat certain elements of the lifestyle here.

What are the negatives of living in So Cal? It’s been getting warmer over the past few years. I remember as a little boy that the Grapevine would be snowed in quite often. In fact, one winter when my parents and I were either going to Sequoia, or were on the way back from there, that the Grapevine had experience a freakishly heavy snow storm, and that there were big rigs strewn across the opposite lanes, any of them overturned. All of this because a snowstorm had surprised everyone. Nowadays, there is only maybe one week of light to moderate snow dusting that occurs across those parts.

In the last few years, and especially the last two summers, it has been unusually hot averaging between 95-105 degrees on the very hot days. This mixed with unusual humidity at times has made life a little less pleasant.

The other two negative aspects of living in So Cal are the loads of traffic you will into most of your waking hours. In fact, the window of “non-traffic” hours is something like 11:30pm to 5:30am. So unless you are a trucker passing through Los Angeles about that time, or you are working in a finance related field and need to be keyed into Wall Street on Eastern Time, you will be immersed in traffic much of your drive.

The last, and most serious deficit of living in So Cal to me is gang activity. Southern California youths, especially those who live in the less favorable areas of Los Angeles such as East LA, South LA, parts of North Hollywood, Sylmar and Mission Hills, seem to allow themselves to be brought into a never-ending cycle of dangerous gang membership and activity. This is the most worrisome thing about So Cal to me.

But with that said, where else can you live in such a media and entertainment rich city combined with access to beaches, mountains, deserts, rivers, lakes and National Parks, plus so much more?

No place is perfect, but I’m always having fun figuring out what living situation would be the close-to-perfect So Cal balance. I’ve come up with this; a house in the Valley for when I want warm, blue-sky mornings, plus a house in Malibu on the sand, plus a house in the mountains for skiing and cabin retreats, and a house in one of the local deserts for that arid air. Doing work which is creative and fulfilling and which pays well, traveling a lot, running, hiking and biking. Making time for my honey, for this recreation and entertainment will always be a challenge, but what better place to live this life than here in Southern California.

But then again, I may decide to up and move to Oregon or New Mexico at any time; you never know.